In Massachusetts, tiny Pirate Party champions Internet freedom

The Pirate Party of Massachusetts is hosting its first conference this weekend …

Six years after the Pirate Party first appeared on the US political scene, the Internet freedom fighters haven't gained much of a foothold in American politics. But in Massachusetts, a small group is trying to drum up support for the party's platforms of defending privacy, reforming copyright laws, abolishing patents, and opposing laws that restrict sharing of content on the Internet.

Formed in 2010 and approved as an official political designation by the state in February 2011, the Massachusetts Pirate Party will host its first conference on Saturday, March 10 in Cambridge's Democracy Center. "The primary goal is to bring together different people of Pirate persuasion," Party "Captain" James O'Keefe told Ars.

But it's more than that. One telling session is titled "How to Run for Office"—that's right, the Pirates want candidates and votes. While there are only 20 registered "Pirates" in all of Massachusetts, at least one member is set to run for state representative, and O'Keefe is hoping for several candidates in this year's elections.

The party takes its name from the Pirate Party in Sweden, which surged in popularity after a 2006 raid on facilities owned by the Pirate Bay website. Swedish Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge "put it rather well when he said we would be branded [as pirates] anyway so we might as well take the name as our own and use it as we see fit, not as the entertainment giants see fit," O'Keefe said. "It has a playful characteristic to it, which is good in this day and age of major political parties that are not in any way playful and are much more interested in scoring points. We set ourselves apart as folks who want to get things done as well as not taking ourselves incredibly seriously, although the issues we fight for are very serious."

O'Keefe, who tests computer software and is raising a family, is a former member of the Green-Rainbow Party and ran for state treasurer of Massachusetts in 2002 and 2006, receiving 8 percent and 16 percent of the vote in his two runs.

In the November 2012 Massachusetts elections, Pirate Party member JP Hollembaek plans to run for state representative in the 16th Middlesex District. Hollembaek, a US Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq, told Ars he's filling out the election paperwork and working with a campaign agency. "I joined the Pirate Party when it started here in Massachusetts, and I've been doing some Occupy activities as well," he said. "As such, I support the Pirate Party platform of 'personal privacy and public transparency', and I am very focused on the infrastructure and income inequality issues that Occupy has brought up."

As US Pirates struggle, Massachusetts members wave the flag

The Pirate Party of Massachusetts is affiliated with the US Pirate Party. The national party's website refers to "the closure of the United States Pirate Party" in 2011, but is establishing a temporary Pirate National Committee to get the party back on track and facilitate cooperation between the state parties. In addition to Massachusetts, there are also state-based organizations in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington state.

The Pirate Party had just 20 registered voters in all of Massachusetts as of February 15, with most in Middlesex County, the state elections division told Ars. Actual interest in the party is a bit higher, with more than 100 people on the e-mail list and "several multiples of that" following the group on Twitter and Facebook, O'Keefe said. He's hoping for at least 100 attendees at the conference Saturday.

The Pirates joined the fight against SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), PIPA (Protect IP Act), and ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), with O'Keefe saying "we're not going to be able to defend our civil liberties if proposals like SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA are implemented."

Massachusetts Pirate Party organizer James O'Keefe

More broadly, O'Keefe says the Party believes "copyright itself is way too long," lasting for the life of the creator plus 70 years. The Pirate Party opposed the Megaupload shutdown, calling it "a violation of national sovereignty" and "a shocking revelation of the collusion between a private industry and our government."

When asked if he's a "pirate" in the sense that copyright industries would use the term, O'Keefe said, "Our belief is that people want to be able to support the artists they like." But copyright owners have often failed to provide legitimate ways of purchasing content that are also convenient, he said. "People are willing to pay and they're even wiling to pay the entertainment companies. To go and brand people pirates for their own failings to us is completely wrong."

The Pirate Party believes "people should be able to share our culture, that our culture shouldn't be locked down, people shouldn't go to jail, people shouldn't be hit with astronomical lawyers bills or fines because they shared something," he said. O'Keefe criticizes the use of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to take down websites, noting that "we've seen entertainment companies try to take down things they don't even have a copyright to."

The Pirate Party conference—advertised with the tagline "Politics: share, remix, reboot"—has an agenda that's more reminiscent of a tech policy conference than a political party gathering. Aside from the "How to run for office" session hosted by O'Keefe, there will be sessions on Internet safety, the fair use of copyrighted material, and a talk about patents. David House, an MIT researcher who helped build support for "WikiLeaker" Bradley Manning, will talk about the challenges of being a digital activist. Other speakers will tackle topics from transparency in government to how artists can make a living in the digital economy.

"We often hear from entertainment companies that when people share copywritten work they are stealing from others," O'Keefe said. "While we don't characterize sharing as stealing, we do think the Internet makes it possible for creators and artists to be able to share their work and still make a living, oftentimes a better living than they would get under the entertainment companies."

As noble as this is, it is really going to be hard for them to garner support when most people are too blinded and biased towards their own party.

They have my full support though.

We could use this in every State.GOP = FAILDemocrats I Vote for them to oppose GOP but I do not have a ton of love for their Party.I Vote for my considered less than evil way of thinking.We do need more choices to Vote for.

I'm actually in a pirate party, and I never even hear from the US PP's. I know they exist from wikipedia, but that's it. And FYI people, the pirate party is not about "being entitled to free stuff on the internet". Repeating that really just makes you look misinformed. It's about freedom of speech, privacy, and copyright and patent systems that aren't just about maximizing the profits of corporations, and putting "fair use" more in line with what people think it is. And if that means that you can share movies on the internet (and it does), then so be it.

In Germany the Pirate Party would get about 9% of the vote in a national election right now. They got 2.6 in the last european parliament elections. There is a demand for a new party, new thinking. And its not just about the problem with "illegal" downloads anymore, they have looked at other isssues and worked out positions in what they call liquid democracy...

Pirate parties are a very good thing, and even if they dont win elections, they force old parties to take a look at issues they would ignore without them.

As noble as this is, it is really going to be hard for them to garner support when most people are too blinded and biased towards their own party.

They have my full support though.

We could use this in every State.GOP = FAILDemocrats I Vote for them to oppose GOP but I do not have a ton of love for their Party.I Vote for my considered less than evil way of thinking.We do need more choices to Vote for.

Newsflash, there are indeed more than 2 choices, but I'm sure your party appreciates the blind support.

In Germany the Pirate Party would get about 9% of the vote in a national election right now. They got 2.6 in the last european parliament elections. There is a demand for a new party, new thinking. And its not just about the problem with "illegal" downloads anymore, they have looked at other isssues and worked out positions in what they call liquid democracy...

Pirate parties are a very good thing, and even if they dont win elections, they force old parties to take a look at issues they would ignore without them.

Yes, free public transport will win you voters in most European major cities and countries. Not that its a bad idea, btw, I think its a great idea and probably will do more for the enviroment than a lot of other measures.

Yes, free public transport will win you voters in most European major cities and countries. Not that its a bad idea, btw, I think its a great idea and probably will do more for the enviroment than a lot of other measures.

I dont know of anyone who demands free public transport, where did you get that?The only thing i can come up with is the idea of a ticket free public transport system for berlin, but that would be financed via a sort of tax.

The are pirate parties members in Swedisch-, German- and the EU-parliment AFAIK (maybe others), they all have the similair name (in different languages). So it doesn't have to be a problem as long as they get a chance to explain what they are trying to do.

These fools need to learn they're not ENTITLED to content created through someone else's hard work and creativity.

Spoiled brats.

Yup, pretty much sums it all up. There are people on this planet in dire need of actual true freedom and basic respect of human rights (Syria?), not to mention there are some serious and legitimate issues within the U.S. itself. But tying a platform of "freedom" to the notion that you should be able to just get your entertainment for free? WTF. This is just truly pathetic. Sorry but this same generation of leechers could not get off their ass when it come to vital issues of their time such as an economic collapse and healthcare reform, but god damn it if you tell them they might just have to pay $20 for a DVD then all hell breaks loose.

Pirating has been around since the first computers. Long before the internet people shared their Apogee games on BBS boards on 9600k modems. But as the internet grew most people knew that you keep this underground, you don't freaking advertise it and you surely never expect an inherit right to it. Ever since the demise of Napster and the rise of torrents/Pirate Bay we have a whole generation that basically gorged themselves off of free content and now just expect it to remain free (their case would be so much better by showing themselves to offer their labor for free). What is most egregious, and frankly burns me the most is the fact that with all the god damn bitching and moaning about these laws, DRM, etc.. is that none seem to be able to draw the very simple correlation between their actions and the expected reaction.

What we do get is a rather disingenuous argument that "they" have a failed business model (that thus somehow legitimizes their actions?). Or my favorite one about copyright lengths, as if the number one torrents are films from even as far back as 1990s.

There is now law that says a film MUST be made available on DVD. This is not an inalienable right, any more so that it is to have that DVD be freely available to download. Is this really the product of a consumer society gone mad? People care more about some farking entertainment as a "right" than say access to healthcare? Hey Joe your going to go in debt because you can't afford that surgery, but at least you will be able to download some Mp3s while you recover. Farking morons.

Those who are corrupt will stop at nothing to control the Internet. It is the single biggest threat to them, as it is easy to get word out to millions and whistleblow and/or educate people about what is REALLY going on. They will not be content until they can spoonfeed us information via the Internet like they can through other older communication media. I hope this party goes somewhere. Someone has to fight it, pirate name or no.

These fools need to learn they're not ENTITLED to content created through someone else's hard work and creativity.

Spoiled brats.

Yup, pretty much sums it all up. There are people on this planet in dire need of actual true freedom and basic respect of human rights (Syria?), not to mention there are some serious and legitimate issues within the U.S. itself. But tying a platform of "freedom" to the notion that you should be able to just get your entertainment for free? WTF. This is just truly pathetic. Sorry but this same generation of leechers could not get off their ass when it come to vital issues of their time such as an economic collapse and healthcare reform, but god damn it if you tell them they might just have to pay $20 for a DVD then all hell breaks loose.

Pirating has been around since the first computers. Long before the internet people shared their Apogee games on BBS boards on 9600k modems. But as the internet grew most people knew that you keep this underground, you don't freaking advertise it and you surely never expect an inherit right to it. Ever since the demise of Napster and the rise of torrents/Pirate Bay we have a whole generation that basically gorged themselves off of free content and now just expect it to remain free (their case would be so much better by showing themselves to offer their labor for free). What is most egregious, and frankly burns me the most is the fact that with all the god damn bitching and moaning about these laws, DRM, etc.. is that none seem to be able to draw the very simple correlation between their actions and the expected reaction.

What we do get is a rather disingenuous argument that "they" have a failed business model (that thus somehow legitimizes their actions?). Or my favorite one about copyright lengths, as if the number one torrents are films from even as far back as 1990s.

There is now law that says a film MUST be made available on DVD. This is not an inalienable right, any more so that it is to have that DVD be freely available to download. Is this really the product of a consumer society gone mad? People care more about some farking entertainment as a "right" than say access to healthcare? Hey Joe your going to go in debt because you can't afford that surgery, but at least you will be able to download some Mp3s while you recover. Farking morons.

I'm not a member or a voter of this party in my country but I believe their plan is to make changes to the current system. Everyone can see the current system is broken. DRM, 3-strikes-out and similair stupid ideas are a mess. So everyone can see the system should be changed.

For example, does Disney really need, what is it again, 70+ years of copyright on stories which have basically been written taken from the works of the brothers Grimm which were in the public domain because the copyright had expired on those works.

That is rediculous and thus they ask for those long copyrights to be reduced to saner shorter periods. Copyright, like patents exist to stimulate the creation of works, not for companies like Disney to sit on their backside and collect money from rehashing the same old stories.

I'm actually in a pirate party, and I never even hear from the US PP's. I know they exist from wikipedia, but that's it. And FYI people, the pirate party is not about "being entitled to free stuff on the internet". Repeating that really just makes you look misinformed. It's about freedom of speech, privacy, and copyright and patent systems that aren't just about maximizing the profits of corporations, and putting "fair use" more in line with what people think it is. And if that means that you can share movies on the internet (and it does), then so be it.

I get that, but in case you don't know, US politics doesn't work like that. Each party has to have an easy tagline for their opponents to use against them. Republicans are hell-bent Christians, Democrats are hippie socialists, etc. What do you think the chances are that the Pirate Party wouldn't just get branded as internet thieves? Besides, being misinformed is the norm in politics.

It doesn't matter what your actual platform is when the other guy has an easy target. Calling yourself a pirate in the US political scene is shooting yourself in the foot before you even get on stage.

Remember, this is coming from someone that agrees with most of the party's ideas. Imagine how the opposing(or even indifferent) person sees it.

The very name of the party is snarky. I understand the counter-cultural intent of the name but I'm not liable to support any political party which depends on a culture of snide, irreverent disdain. There is a subtle humor to it, but I don't think you would get far with an atheist party called Godless America or, perhaps, the People's Front of Judea.

You end up with the kind of support that Stephen Colbert's candidacy gets -- people who want to fart in the ballot box. It might make you feel better temporarily but it's hard to see the solution to divisiveness in politics to create another divisive party. But if all you really want to do is create a situation where the only people who vote for you are the 'smart' people, knock yourself out. You can then whine to your friends and family about how stupid everyone is.

Yes, free public transport will win you voters in most European major cities and countries. Not that its a bad idea, btw, I think its a great idea and probably will do more for the enviroment than a lot of other measures.

I dont know of anyone who demands free public transport, where did you get that?The only thing i can come up with is the idea of a ticket free public transport system for berlin, but that would be financed via a sort of tax.

So it is free public transport they had in their program, thank you. If you want to be pedantic then you should add that currently public transport in Berlin, which is what I was referring to, is already subsidized by taxes.

Yes, free public transport will win you voters in most European major cities and countries. Not that its a bad idea, btw, I think its a great idea and probably will do more for the enviroment than a lot of other measures.

I dont know of anyone who demands free public transport, where did you get that?The only thing i can come up with is the idea of a ticket free public transport system for berlin, but that would be financed via a sort of tax.

That's basically what people want to express with this, but the media and opposition has brandet it with "free public transport", when the right definition would be "ticket-free", which is exactly how you explained it.

Tldr, but why is there a pirate party at the STATE level, when US copyright law is federal?

Because ALL US political parties function only at the state level, there is no such thing as a federal-level political party. Every state has it's own laws, rules and regulations as to what constitutes a party, how candidates get on the ballot etc. That's why Oklahoma hasn't had any party except R and D for years now. How come Newt didn't get on the primary ballot in Virginia, and why there are so many parties in New York (despite the ballot laws being over 700 pages long)It's also how come the Republicans and Democrats lost a court challenge to the presidential debates in Arizona in 2004 that cost them a LOT of money (because it was funded with state money, BUT didn't involve all state parties running for president - both Kerry and Bush refused to participate if the Libertarian candidate was allowed to participate)

ssa2204 wrote:

Yup, pretty much sums it all up. There are people on this planet in dire need of actual true freedom and basic respect of human rights (Syria?), not to mention there are some serious and legitimate issues within the U.S. itself. But tying a platform of "freedom" to the notion that you should be able to just get your entertainment for free? WTF. This is just truly pathetic. Sorry but this same generation of leechers could not get off their ass when it come to vital issues of their time such as an economic collapse and healthcare reform, but god damn it if you tell them they might just have to pay $20 for a DVD then all hell breaks loose.

Guess who has been opposed to all that stuff for years? THE PIRATE PARTIES.

Here are the three planks of the Pirate Party Platform in the US1) Government Transparency and Accountability2) Personal Privacy3) Reform of copyright, patent and trademark law.

As with all things, if you don't know what you're talking about (and you clearly don't) then maybe you should find out THEN lecture. Else you just look stupid.

We've been strongly against the way patents prohibit medicines being used in developing countries. How companies like Monsanto can force farmers to destroy their crops and pay damages if their crops are contaminated by cross-pollination with monsanto GM crops planted elsewhere. How companies like Monster Cables, Susan J Korman for the cure, and EasyJet have sued companies because they feel the names are vaguely similar to their trademarks, even if it's in a field not covered by the trademark, or theres no way it passes the 'moron in a hurry' testBy the way, the one thing we have NOT been about, is 'getting free stuff whenever we want'.

I get that, but in case you don't know, US politics doesn't work like that. Each party has to have an easy tagline for their opponents to use against them. Republicans are hell-bent Christians, Democrats are hippie socialists, etc. What do you think the chances are that the Pirate Party wouldn't just get branded as internet thieves? Besides, being misinformed is the norm in politics.

It doesn't matter what your actual platform is when the other guy has an easy target. Calling yourself a pirate in the US political scene is shooting yourself in the foot before you even get on stage.

Remember, this is coming from someone that agrees with most of the party's ideas. Imagine how the opposing(or even indifferent) person sees it.

The name is perhaps unfortunate, it gave some trouble even on the other side of the pond. It has also been argued that the name increases exposure and that's a good thing. In any case it's too late to change it now..

These fools need to learn they're not ENTITLED to content created through someone else's hard work and creativity.

Spoiled brats.

Artists, writers, and musicians all build on what others have created. No one creates in a vacuum. Our culture is shared and remixed and always has been. It is what we do as humans. As I was quoted as saying in the article, we want artists to be able to earn a living. The current model of having the entertainment companies in the middle sucking up most of the money won't work in an open Internet. The only way to maintain the current system is to spy on everyone on the Internet. Is that price worth it, or should we come up with new ways of supporting the artists? I think it is pretty clear that we need to try some innovation.

Copyright was originally defined as the right for publishers to have a monopoly on the printing press. It was used to censor speech rather than free it. With the introduction of SOPA, PIPA, 3 strikes and you are off the internet, and data retention laws, we are moving back to copyright as censorship. When the US introduced copyright it was originally for a term of 14 years, the work had to be registered with the copyright office and the term could be extended for another 14 years. Contrast that with todays, life of the author+70 years and automatic copyright. We have gone down the wrong path and for our own freedom we need to change direction.

Tldr, but why is there a pirate party at the STATE level, when US copyright law is federal?

Copyright law, while Federal and international, is not our only concern. Government transparency is a relevant to all levels of government. Using open source text books or starting up a municipal wifi are local issues. In Massachusetts, we focus on the US House of Representatives and lower offices. Besides, the best organization is grassroots not top down.

Yup, pretty much sums it all up. There are people on this planet in dire need of actual true freedom and basic respect of human rights (Syria?), not to mention there are some serious and legitimate issues within the U.S. itself. But tying a platform of "freedom" to the notion that you should be able to just get your entertainment for free? WTF. This is just truly pathetic. Sorry but this same generation of leechers could not get off their ass when it come to vital issues of their time such as an economic collapse and healthcare reform, but god damn it if you tell them they might just have to pay $20 for a DVD then all hell breaks loose.

Copyright, along with child porn and terrorism, are issues commonly used to get the foot in the door for oppression and censorship.

Quote:

What we do get is a rather disingenuous argument that "they" have a failed business model (that thus somehow legitimizes their actions?). Or my favorite one about copyright lengths, as if the number one torrents are films from even as far back as 1990s.

The number one torrents don't indicate what constitutes the majority, just the plurality. Also, it might be easier to get people to respect copyright if works had fallen into the public domain in their lifetime. Hell, in many people's lifetimes, not only have no works fallen into the public domain, works have been TAKEN OUT. When copyright shows such utter disrespect for the public, how the hell do you expect the public to have any kind of respect for the public?

These fools need to learn they're not ENTITLED to content created through someone else's hard work and creativity.

Spoiled brats.

Yeah, let me kinda point out some of the people behind the Pirate Party, and their backgrounds

You have Rick Falkvinge, who used to work at Microsoft (his name is in the 25th anniversary book).

Then there's Loz Kaye, head of the UK party. He's a Composer (for things like films and plays) as well as a lecturer at [Paul McCartneys] Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts (or LIPA)

And there's me. I'm an engineer who has got patents. I also used to be a copyright enforcer for a record company. Then I did TV work (including being part of the brainstorm that created Mythbusters, while we were working on another TV show). Nowadays, I write (books, articles, etc.).

So yeah, we're all freeloaders wanting free movies. Oh no wait, we're all people who have had first-hand experience of the way things are, and see things are NO GOOD.

These fools need to learn they're not ENTITLED to content created through someone else's hard work and creativity.

Spoiled brats.

Yup, pretty much sums it all up. There are people on this planet in dire need of actual true freedom and basic respect of human rights (Syria?), not to mention there are some serious and legitimate issues within the U.S. itself. But tying a platform of "freedom" to the notion that you should be able to just get your entertainment for free? WTF. This is just truly pathetic. Sorry but this same generation of leechers could not get off their ass when it come to vital issues of their time such as an economic collapse and healthcare reform, but god damn it if you tell them they might just have to pay $20 for a DVD then all hell breaks loose.

Pirating has been around since the first computers. Long before the internet people shared their Apogee games on BBS boards on 9600k modems. But as the internet grew most people knew that you keep this underground, you don't freaking advertise it and you surely never expect an inherit right to it. Ever since the demise of Napster and the rise of torrents/Pirate Bay we have a whole generation that basically gorged themselves off of free content and now just expect it to remain free (their case would be so much better by showing themselves to offer their labor for free). What is most egregious, and frankly burns me the most is the fact that with all the god damn bitching and moaning about these laws, DRM, etc.. is that none seem to be able to draw the very simple correlation between their actions and the expected reaction.

Nail meet Hammer. Great great post and could not agree more.

What do these freeloaders expect? Of course the people that spend a lot of money and or time are going to look for other ways to protect their product.

Quote:

What we do get is a rather disingenuous argument that "they" have a failed business model (that thus somehow legitimizes their actions?). Or my favorite one about copyright lengths, as if the number one torrents are films from even as far back as 1990s.

Hey I think Inception is still in the pirate bay top 100 making it one movie prior to 2011 on the list. And I love the failed business model one when no one can come up with a business model that would still produce the movies/music/tv with their current production values with their hair brained schemes. Oh and they love blaming Hollywood/Record Companies because some Eastern European does not get a day and date release when the most likely reason for that is that country has laws that prevent the studio from doing so. Take Canada where there are laws on the number of imported TV shows allowed on the air its Hollywood fault.

Quote:

There is now law that says a film MUST be made available on DVD. This is not an inalienable right, any more so that it is to have that DVD be freely available to download. Is this really the product of a consumer society gone mad? People care more about some farking entertainment as a "right" than say access to healthcare? Hey Joe your going to go in debt because you can't afford that surgery, but at least you will be able to download some Mp3s while you recover. Farking morons.

Our content is one of the few industries that are a net exporter anymore.